


Warm Ice

by RoseScytheElysium



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012), Warm Bodies - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover Pairings, Horror, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-20
Updated: 2015-08-20
Packaged: 2018-04-16 05:34:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4613127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseScytheElysium/pseuds/RoseScytheElysium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU (obviously) where Jack 'Frost' is a normal eighteen year old trying to survive the devastating Zombie Apocalypse along with his good friend, Tee. The two have been struggling to survive on their own since they decided to sneak away from their old dictatorship refuge camp. Meanwhile, a peculiar zombie is tiring of hunting down humans in a world where that was deemed necessary. He wants to feel alive, but they only way he can do that is by consuming the brains of humans. Or could there possibly be another way?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warm Ice

 

Jack sneaked down the abandoned street alleyways, making sure to stay close to the bricked walls. He knew there were a few Deadies roaming around on the main drag which was a dangerous inconvenience to him. Taking these back roads and allies were prime spots for Boneys to hide. Those skeletal monsters liked to keep to the roof tops for easier ambush opportunities, thus why Jack kept himself practically glued to the walls. He scoured the roof tops as he traveled; he had been out for too long and running into a Boney would only prolong it or perhaps end it in a tragic way. 

Jack didn't like to think about that, but he was well aware it was very possible. He remembered the first time he saw one of those freaks. It was in the process of consuming someone. Gnawing on the poor guy to the bone. It was the most terrifying thing Jack had ever had the misfortune of witnessing. That thing's dark sagging grotesque skin desperately clinging to the bone as it sat hunched over that man's body, stuffing its large mouth with mangled and bloodied flesh. And when it stood up, it looked even more horrifying. Tall and lanky with long narrow fingers that could easily rip you apart with one little swipe. Its only vocabulary consisted of low clicks and echoing roars, which where more unsettling than the usual and deadpanned groans the Deadies made. Even though, they technically didn't have eyes, their stare was fierce and terrifying. Jack remembered it staring at him with a menacing hunger. He had been prepped about them, but actually seeing one face to face was something no one could just describe to you. Unless you have seen one eating someone from up close, you couldn't possibly imagine what they are. 

And Jack hoped he would never have to run into another one of them again, but hope was something that also perished in the apocalypse. However, if Jack was careful and played it safe, he shouldn't have much to worry about. Worrying about it wouldn't do him much help anyway so better for him to focus on what was happening right now and right now he was trying to get back home. If he stayed out any longer Tee would surely go out looking for him and that was the last thing he wanted her to do. Though he knew he was going to get scolded either way and it would be well deserved. Jack was still reckless. Yet, despite this he was much quieter than her, almost invisible one could say. This led him to going out for long range supplies more. He was quick and quiet, but not always the most prepared.

Since he and Tee left the refuge camp, their means for protection were thinning and fast. It wasn't like they could stock up on weapons before they left. It was a last minute thing and something they decided while not cooped up within its thick walls. In fact, the only weapons Jack had on him was a small pistol, a couple rounds of ammo and his own spear that he made out of a tree branch. They had been living in those walls since this whole mess started and they knew leaving would be letting go of many means of protection, but neither Jack nor Tee were happy there. It had started out alright as far as post apocalyptic life goes, but thing there gradually got worse as the years pasted. Their once diplomatic and democratic society turned into a harsh military dictatorship where each citizen was ordered to train like a solider. Not everyone in this world can be a fighter despite the belief of their former leader. Both Tee and Jack were not cut out to be these stone cold warriors and figured if they stayed they would be killed faster than if they lived their own way of life on their own terms. So far things seemed to be working out and they figured their former group thought them to be dead by now, so they wouldn't have to looking over their shoulders for them either. They had enough to look for already.

Jack carefully peered around the corner and, much to his disdain, saw a group of Deadies wandering seemingly aimlessly. Though that wouldn't be for long if they caught a whiff of him. Jack quickly turned back and leaned against the wall. He was going to have to get to the roof to get past them. and into the abandoned apartment where Tee and he stayed. He would be able to climb up the latter but there was still the threat that Boneys would be up there. Though Jack was sure they would have smelt him by now. To climb the latter successfully he would have to holster his pistol. Another risk he would need to take and there was no time to think about it. Jack quickly shoved his pistol into its holster and made sure his spear was still tightly fastened to his back. He began to ascend the rusted and rickety latter that led to the roof. He tried his best to contain the latter's squeaks and creeks, he didn't need the Deadies following him up here.

Jack reached the top but his breath hitched in his throat and he kept his eyes barely above the edge of the roof. Sitting on the roof was an stiff and hallowed looking Deady. Though this was no ordinary Deady you would see on the streets or else where. No, this one had began to shed its skin and reveal the revolting rot that lay hidden underneath. This one was well on its way to becoming a Boney. This situation was a rare one as these guys liked to sit and stare off into space in dark and secluded places. They were slower than Boneys and Deadies due to their slow and sluggish descend into decay, but they made up for that in severe aggression. They were clumsy, but that made them more dangerous. They were so desperate to tear into humans that they flail about causing more scratches and bites.

Jack would need to be extra careful with this one. He couldn't reach his gun from this angle and attempting to get it would just create a lot of noise. Jack would need to use his spear and sneak up on it. Jack reached behind his back to grab his spear. He held it in his hand tightly. Suddenly, he heard the latter rattle and a slight 'ding' sound bounce on the ground below him. He gasped and the latter began to give way. It shook violently as the screws and bolts fell from their sockets. Jack attempted to climb the latter as it fell, but it was to no avail. The latter started to lean back and that's when Jack knew he was in serious trouble.  He swiftly swung the jagged but curved end of this staff around an empty flag post. He watched the latter collide with the ground with a loud clang sending countless rustled debris around the alleyway. Jack could only wish that the Deadies had moved on far enough to not hear the loud commotion. 

Two cold hands tightly gripped onto the sleeve of Jack's dusty blue sweatshirt. Jack quickly brought his attention upwards and was greeted by the growling face of the rotting corpse pulling at his clothing. He could feel the panic rising as the corpse clamped its teeth together as it tried to bite him. Jack struggled to loosen the corpse's strong grip on him. He fumbled to pry the gun from its holster, he could feel his fingers straining to grip the spear that was holding him up from the ground. He successfully unclasped the holster's top, whipping out the gun and not waiting a second before pulling the trigger sending the bullet firing down the barrel into the corpse's head. It immediately went limp and toppled over the edge of the roof, dragging Jack with him. With the weight pulling him down he could no longer hold onto the spear, which after he let go flung off to the ground. Jack tumbled to the ground landing onto of the recently slain corpse. He shut his eyes and groaned in pain, the corpse may have broken his fall, but it was still a nasty one. He struggled to sit himself up, rubbing the back of head and trying to rid himself of the pain in his back. Upon opening his eyes he saw a most unwelcoming sight.

- **Earlier** -

_I can't remember anything anymore._

_No matter how hard I try._

_What was my name again?_

_Rrrr? Rrr!_

_Whatever, doesn't matter._

_Someone like me doesn't need a name._

_You know, someone who's dead._

_Besides its not like I can tell it to anybody._

_The company I have is rather mute except for the occasional groaning._

_But then again, I probably sound like that too._

_Oh, he has a nice suit. Maybe he was a CEO._

_Wonder what I was...._

_Probably no one important._

_Where was I going again?_

_I don't want to be like this anymore._

_I don't want to be alone._

_I don't want to be lost and I'm literally lost in this airport, but you all probably get the picture._

_Oop, sorry didn't mean to bump into you._

_Oh that's right I didn't actually say that._

_You'd think I would have gotten used to that._

_Speaking is hard now._

_And even if I manage to say something no one really responds._

_Except for my friend, well I think he's my friend._

_Most of the time we just stare at each other and groan._

_But hey, it's something._

_Sometimes though we exchange the occasional words._

_Like right now._

He sits down next to his 'friend' who was as usual staring off into space. He turned to him and groaned slightly, gathering his friend's attention.

"H-Hung..Hungry..." He moaned to his friend.

The older zombie turned to him, "C..Cit...City.."

They slightly nodded to each other before sluggishly getting up with others slowly starting to tail behind them. 

_This was always my least part of the day._

_Well, not really I looked forward to it, but also dreaded it._

_I'm so weird._

_When we all go out to eat, I always feel so conflicted._

_I don't want to hurt anyone._

_But I need to do this._

 --

A man covered in dark camouflaged gear stalked the streets with a large gun in hand. He scanned over the area. No survivors in sight. He had little luck today trying to find a living a person to recruit for the camp. This surely wouldn't sit well with the Commander. The camp needed able bodies to defend and serve it, but the living were decreasing in numbers with each passing day. Even in the camp they had lost people to the dead. The most recent was the loss of a couple of teenagers. The soldier was sad to receive news of their presumed demise. He had watched over a good part of their life. He always found them annoying, especially the boy. He always goofed off, and the solider never imagined he would miss it. Yet, the absence of the innocent lightheartedness was something to be missed. The world needed people like that, not just soldiers. 

There was nothing he could do about it though, he was just one man. A man with a job. Kill the dead, recruit the living. Simple as that. And he intended to accomplish that. The solider whipped around at the sound of rustling cans from behind him. He held his gun up and waited. There was nothing there that he could see. Suddenly, he felt a grip on his shoulders pulling him down. He shot off his gun in the air causing his ears to ring. He was pulled down quickly and greeted by the vicious jaws of a zombie. He let out a scream, but was quickly silenced when the corpse shoved his head down to the concrete. 

_I'm sorry to do this to you._

_I don't want to hurt you._

_I'm not going to let you come back as someone like me._

_I just need your brain. That's it. We all need it. We aren't like the Boneys we only need the brain._

_Your memories you feelings. It helps me. Maybe it helps the others too._

_I don't feel good doing this. I don't feel happy. But I feel something and that's all I want._

The zombie stopped slamming the solider's head to ground when he noticed the solider's once tough skull had been reduced to mere sludge and mush. The zombie greedy tore into the soldier's brains, stuffing his mouth with fist fulls of it. The zombie's eyes widened as the dead man's memories flew through him. 

A young boy, tall and happy. Running around with someone. His father. They played football together. No longer a boy, a young man. Training for an upcoming game. Running, slamming into other people to try and score the ball. He's older now. Gun being shoved into his hands. He stands ready by a large metal door. Walking the streets of a small community. Steps on a toy ball. Approaches a group of laughing kids. Brings his attention to a boy hanging upside down from a long tree branch.

_"Jack!"_ He shouts.  _"Get down!"_

" _What's the matter?"_  The boy with strange light hair drops down from the tree flashing a playful smirk, " _Allergic to fun?"_ The boy smiled again and waved of the man's threats. He was funny. He was happy. 

There's the boy again. He's walking with me-him along with a group of other kids. Laughing again. Such a nice laugh. Why is he always smiling? There he was again and again and again. The zombie slowly began to only recognize the memories with the boy in it.

_Another memory. But where is the boy? I want to see him again. Where did he go? There is no more of him. His smile and laugh are still echoing to me._

_What was his name?_

_Jack?_

The memories stopped leaving the zombie staring off. His mind went back to flashes of the boy-Jack from the soldier's memories. The soldier knew him well. Watched over him, trained him. But he was... Where did he go? The memories of him stopped, but the other kids with him were still there. Did he maybe die? He was...cute. For a living person that is. His eyes were deep blue and were full of life. His hair was the lightest he had seen. He was so...alive. The zombie wanted to feel how alive he actually was. Rap his arms around him to see if he was warm. He desired to have his Jack around and maybe make him feel alive too. 

The zombie heard faint footsteps jarring him from his thoughts. He pushed himself up and readied himself for another meal. But was stunned to see. A boy carefully treading the alleyways. A boy wearing a blue sweatshirt with torn brown pants. His light hair bounced as he walked and his blue eyes scanned the area. The zombie cocked his head. For a second he thought it was a dream, but the dead can't dream. It was Jack, but how could that be possible? The soldier thought he was dead. But there he was. The zombie's ghostly eyes watched the boy until it was hard to see him. The zombie quickly scurried to his feet and shuffled after the boy. He kept his distance as he followed Jack. He didn't know how he would respond if he got too close. But as Jack began to climb a latter, the zombie found himself getting closer and closer.

 --

Jack's eyes widened as he saw a Deady standing across from him. It was tall, maybe not much older than he when it died. It wore a tattered and stained red hoodie with a dirty white t-shirt under it. Its face was pale and scarred. Its pale eyes stared at him with its lips slightly parted revealing freshly stained teeth. It blinked at him slowly before staggering over to him. Jack gasped and looked around for his weapons. His gun was too far away from him and his spear was at the Deady's feet. The Deady stumbled over it causing it to stop. It looked down to it almost like it recognized it. Strangely, the Deady bent down and picked it up. Jack's eyes flew open. Had the Deadies started to use weapons. Jack pushed himself to his feet and back away as the Deady approached him. He found himself backed against a wall. The Deady stopped a few feet in front of him. It cocked its head at him making the blue veins in its neck more prominent. Its eyes ran over his body, examining him. Jack could hear his heart pounding in his ears. The anticipation had reached its limits. Why hadn't it attacked him, already? Why was it just staring at him? 

The Deady then slowly extended its arm, holding out Jack's spear. Jack looked at his spear then back to the Deady with caution. 

It groaned and moved its hand forward a bit, urging Jack to take it.

Jack furrowed his brow in deep confusion and shook his head slightly.

"T...a...ta...k..e" He heard it mumble.

_Did it just talk?!_

No he must have been imagining things. Deadies couldn't talk, right? Jack took a small step forward and looked to the Deady to see its reaction. It still stared at him, holding out the spear. Another step and the same reaction followed. Jack slowly and carefully reached over to his spear. Nearly falling over as he did so. He quickly snatched it and held it close. The Deady's arm dropped to its side and its expression brightened. 

"Ja...J-J...a..c...k." It mumbled again.

_Did..did it just say my name?!_

What in the world was going on? I mean he knew some crazy shit happens in apocalypses but this? Jack looked to his spear then back to the Deady who had not moved.

"What..are you?" Jack whispered quietly not realizing he had voiced his question.

 "Jack!" He heard a familiar voice call in the distance. It was Tee. She must have come out looking for him. Jack looked over his shoulder, but quickly returned his gaze to the Deady. It continued to stare at him. Jack opened his mouth to stay something but couldn't find the words.

"Jack! Where are you?!" Tee's voice grew frantic. 

Jack kept shifting his gaze from over his shoulder to the Deady. He bounced slightly before taking off, picking up his gun and bag. He peeked over his shoulder and saw the Deady still standing there, starry eyed. He shook his head and brought his attention forward.

\--

The zombie watched Jack run off. He was too stuck in his daze to immediately chase after him, but once he could barely see him he began to step forward. However, a groan from behind him, stopped him dead in his tracks. He turned slightly to see his friend gesturing towards him to come back home. His eyes lowered and he turned back and stared off in the direction Jack ran. The groan was more persistent this time and he knew staring off would make Jack come back. He regrettably turned around and began to follow his friend out of the alleyway. However, scattered contents out of Jack's bag caught his attention. He paused when he saw a few photos laying on the ground. He looked to his friend who was faithfully staring ahead. Knowing no one would see him, he picked up the photos and shoved them into his pocket. He would have to wait to look through them.

_Home sweet home._ He stepped into his humble abode, which was really just an airplane where he kept all of his stuff. He walked over to the old record player, carefully playing a record who's name he couldn't read. The tune and rhythm of the music began to fill the aircraft causing him to sigh peacefully. He sat himself down in one of the many seats and gently leaned back into it blue cushion. He listened to the lyrics of the music before pulling out the photos he had hid in his pocket. He shuffled through them. They were filled with images of a place foreign to him. Full of people and life. Trees, swings, and people going about their day. He flipped through the pictures with a small cracked smile on his dry lips. He stopped upon seeing an image of Jack. He wasn't posed and looked like he was in the middle of laughing at something, based on his smile. It must have been taken without his knowledge. Still he looked happy. He gently ran his cracked fingers over the smooth surface. 

For some odd reason he couldn't explain, he liked Jack. The reason may never be known to him, but that mattered little to him. What mattered was that he hoped he would see him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure what compelled my to write this. It's been bouncing around in my head for awhile and I think I just wanted to get it out. It's such an odd pairing but I think it's cute.


End file.
